Pure fun brain candy. I imagine the author started writing this book with the simple idea of "what would it be like to meet my celebrity crush?" and ran with it. The story unfolds over two weekends: "Then" - when a 26-year old celeb reporter named Chani sets out to interview rising star Gave Parker and "Now" - ten years later when a now 36-year old Chani is asked to meet up with Gabe again for a follow-up story. Much has changed for both reporter and actor over the ten years, but not the attraction that still lingers between them. As the reader moves from Friday to Saturday to Sunday to Monday - both then and now - the real story of what occurred between Chani and Gabe that first weekend slowly unfolds. This book will be published in April and I think would be a good choice for your Spring break or summer vacation beach read.... though I read it cozied up on my couch on a particularly freezing day in January and it was perfect for that too.

NOTE: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you, like me and scores of other elder millennials, read Edith Zimmerman’s GQ profile on Chris Evans and wondered what really happened, then this is the book for you. Chani Horowitz is a writer. Ideally of fiction though she’s best known for nonfiction. Gabe Parker is a movie star. Preparing to star as the first American Bond. The book cuts back and forth between Chani’s interview of Gabe 10 years ago and her re-interviewing his now, after they’re both divorced and a little shaken up by life. We also get to read excerpts from the infamous article as film reviews, industry articles, and other secondary sources. But we’re all here to get the truth right from the source.
Sussman does a good job of connecting Chani and Gabe. You get why they’re into each other (although we should have gotten some of Chani’s dragon story) and despite the movie-star trappings, their connection seems solid. Sussman manages to say a lot without having to write it, her characters are sharp and three-dimensional.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun story about a writer who is forever haunted/plagued/hung up on a feature piece that she did years before. Many years later their lives intersect again - reluctantly on her part. The story jumps around the timeline to the original interview, the intervening years and the present.

While there were a few moments that felt a bit slow, overall I really liked the book. I prefer more realistic stories, so while this is about a "normal" getting together with a movie star, it is done in such a way that it is really just two people. There was a good range of emotions and definitely some funny parts.

I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was skeptical as I started this book, that a story of two star crossed lovers spanning 10 years would be unsaisfying, but Sussman does an incredible job of blending the past with the now and the possability for their future.

This format was somtimes hard to follow, especially at the beginning, and Sussman has a knack for switching tenses right as it's getting interesting but journalist Chani and movie star Gabe are interesting and engaging characters while we hope they can get their act together and find some kind of happiness.

This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I love a great celebrity crush romance and second chance romance trope. This book is more than just those though which explains why I enjoyed it so much.

Chani and Gabe were genuine people, neither allowed themselves (for the most part) to be caught up in the BS that surrounds Hollywood life. Well, Gabe does but finds his way back. It's the journey these two take, together and alone that makes this book so remarkable.

There were definite giggles while reading, sweetness & swooning too.
I would have liked to see more between these two as this book has a 10-year gap and once they find each other again, I just wanted more more more!!

I predict this will be on many top romance novel lists in 2022! The setting, the characters, the plot… all lovely. The narration takes place in the past and the present, and there are also “articles” interspersed throughout. This technique gives some intrigue and suspense! Thanks to NetGalley and Dell Books for the ARC.

This book is hilarious and addicting. A page turning fun ride that will keep you entertained throughout every page. The perfect beach read!

If I were to summarize Funny You Should Ask, I would say it's a slow burn second chance romance between a writer and the movie star she interviews. That would be an accurate, but incomplete depiction: this book is more than that. At first I wasn't even so sure it was a romance, but I kept reading because the characters were interesting and intriguing and the writing was good. At one point Chani describes how she works on puzzles: completing the edge first and then building the whole picture from that framework. That's what this book felt like to me, The edges slowly came together through alternating past and present account and news articles, and by the time I got the whole picture I realized that Chani and Gabe had evolved and grown and I realized that yes, this was a romance, and a beautiful one at that.

I enjoyed this book on sheer originality alone. So many rom-coms, romance novels and works of women’s fiction seem to mimic each other with their plot, characters, storyline and happily ever after endings. Thankfully, this latest tome by Elissa Sussman was creative and unique. Although Funny You Should Ask may not be my favorite among some exciting and engrossing fiction that I have read recently, it was a breath of fresh air in it’s originality and creativity, and for that it deserves praise.

A second chance romance where a journalist gets to interview the movie star who ten years both helped catapult her career and also hurt her heart. Sounds like a super fun, swoons read right? It is! But also so much more. Think about the last ten years of your life and everything you been through and all the ways you have changed. Chani and Gabe have been through a lot in the time they have been apart so when they are reunited they bring a lot into the room with them, the past versions of themselves, their new selves, the expectations of the world, what they both think happened a decade ago. I loved two time lines, watching their first meeting and then watching them reconnect. Once I picked this book up I hated having to put it down in order to be a productive adult

I revived a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Chani and Gabe were both such charming and lovable characters. The wit the two of them had was so funny and entertaining. At times the Then and Now format that is done can be sloppy but I found this one was really well done. The connections and transitions between the two time periods were so well done.

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman is a slow read. It bounces between present day and 10 years before of the romance with Chani and Gabe. Different spaces at different times but together for an interview. While the interview does not go as planned, their separate careers skyrocket. 10 years later they reunite to recreate the interview. Overall a predictable story but good read.

🅘 🅕🅤🅒🅚🅘🅝🅖 🅛🅞🅥🅔🅓 🅘🅣 😍
Chani Horowitz is a young journalist who gets a career-making assignment interviewing the hot actor who was just picked to play Bond, Gabe Parker. It escalates into a whole weekend together that neither can forget. 10 years later, they're asked to relive it. The timeline bounces between the two weekends 10 years apart, with blog posts and articles in between showing an outside (paparazzi) perspective.
I swear if that sounds kinda dry, that's on me and not the book. I really enjoyed it and it's a perfect quick read.
Elissa NAILED Chani's voice. I felt like I knew Chani. AM I CHANI? She clicked that much.
The story was thoroughly implausible but so enjoyable I didn't care.
I want this as a movie. Possibly starring Kat Dennings. HELP ME MANIFEST THIS AND GRAB A COPY 4/12/22!!

There’s a lot of talk of wanting and being drawn to each other, but when you get down to it, Chani and Gabe don’t have the magnetic chemistry that the author keeps insisting is there. I didn’t mind the flashback aspect of the book but I kept waiting for something to “happen” since so many things were referenced in the “now” chapters.

Absolutely devoured this book! Started it last night, went to bed thinking about it, and finished it off today. Definitely some classic romance/women's fiction threads at play here: famous uber handsome guy meets bootstrapping girl next door, missed first chances and second chances with loads of baggage. But these characters didn't feel like caricatures, nor did they feel vaguely familiar as romances sometimes do. The main two, and their supporting cast, felt fresh and new and interesting. I loved the way this dug into the nature of fame, and jealousy and resentment. And I couldn't help but root for these two all the way.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC, in exchange for this honest review.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for my eARC in exchange of my honest opinion.

Chani Horowitz was given the opportunity of a lifetime ten years ago when she was asked to interview Gabe Parker, her celebrity crush. The interview turns into an entire weekend spent with the heart throb, which leaves the tabloids going wild, and her sudden fame based on a lie.

Now, years later, she’s asked to reunite with Gabe for a second interview. She wants to say no, seeing as their first meeting left her questioning her entire careers success. But she’s too curious about whether or not their weekend a decade ago was as real for him as it had been for her.

The good: the writing, the chemistry between the characters, the wit.

The bad: the ongoing mention of her success being solely based on the one interview, and the assumptions made on that weekend. It seems farfetched that something like that would last an entire decade. Also, the constant reassurance she seeks for her writing.

Overall, I liked it. It was a quick read. Just not one that I think I’ll be revisiting.

This one gets 3.5⭐️‘s from me!

I’m not sure what I think about this book. The writing style of moving between the past and present, with random article excerpts I’m between, sometimes felt disjointed but not completely off putting. I did not feel a connection to Chani during the book. She needed validation due to a past relationship but she was often her own worst enemy and it led me to find her frustrating the entire time. Gabe was perfectly fine and had some depth that was slowly revealed. The introduction of Ollie was a breath of fresh air, and made Chani more bearable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the arc.

This book just wasn't for me. I loved how it was similar to One to Watch, in the sense that you get news articles, stories, and blog posts in between chapters covering scenes you have or haven't seen yet, and I didn't mind the writing. I could not get past how much I didn't like the MC - I felt her to be brash, snarky, and quite frankly boring. (FTR, I do usually love brash and snarky characters - this one just didn't work for me.).

I also really didn't like how all that you knew of Chani was through her love interests. She wasn't a well developed character

The last 20% of the book did a better job and showing Chani and Gabe's connection, but I was already too far gone at that point. I think I would have bought into their love more if there was more 'meat' to their relationship when they first met 10 years ago.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!

I really wanted to like this one, but overall I was underwhelmed. This book follows the love story between Chani and Gabe, which I never found that believable. The characters were not relatable to me or to anyone in my life, so I was never that engaged in the plot. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell for a copy of this book for an honest review.

This was one of those that I really wanted to like, but I didn't enjoy it. I found the characters to be annoying and the romance exhausted me. It had its moments, but overall it was not for me. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Ballantine.